I started a free NASCAR fantasy league last year, and it went pretty well. I figured I’d do it again this year. The only prize is bragging rights until next season, unless you make side wagers with another player, which I don’t want to know about as far as this thread on the SDMB is concerned (if you can pick up what I’m laying down ;)). All you need is a valid Yahoo ID, which is also free.
Basically, all drivers are broken down into 3 classes. (A=top tier, B=middle of the road, C='field fillers", although some quality rookies and a few road ringers can be found in this group) You pick 8 drivers to qualify (2 A, 4 B, 2 C), and start 4 (1-2-1). Throughout the course of the season, you can qualify a driver as often as you want to, but may only start a particular driver 9 times. This prevents someone from using, say, Dale Earnhardt Jr all season long. You are welcome to qualify Ryan Newman every single week, however, provided that he has not started in your lineup 9 times. Once a driver has started 9 times, he is ineligible to gain any points for you, even qualifying. (complete rules are here)
If you would like to join, go here, click “join a group”, and enter the following info when prompted:
League name: Go Fast Turn Left
League ID: 8147
Password: racecar
The racing season is 36 races, beginning in February and ending in November. The deadline to have your qualifying roster set is generally 5 AM EST on Friday, although this moves ahead a day for Saturday races. You can change your starter (among your qualifiers) up to 5 minutes before the scheduled start of a race (generally 1 PM EST).
If you forget to change your drivers in time, you will default to the drivers you selected the previous week, although you can change your starters. If you forget to change your drivers after 9 weeks or if you are starting ineligible drivers on a regular basis, chances are you will be dropped from the league.
Trash talking on the league message board is encouraged, especially when all of your starters finish in the top 5, or someone inexplicably starts Kyle Petty for anything. Just keep it civil. Leave peoples mamas out of it.
If you have any family or friends who may be interested, pass this info on to them, the more the better. The goal for the league is 43 participants, with the first 35 to sign up being guaranteed a spot.
One of the players last year started out the season telling us by how many millions of points he’d win the league by.